Accentuating the Racialized, Contextual, and Multifaceted Dimensions of School Gentrification

• In Event: Advancing New Directions in School Gentrification Research Centered on Righting, Remedy, and Repair

Abstract

Since post-World War II, the patterns of racial segregation and urban renewal have changed as U.S. cities have shifted toward a more diverse residential landscape (Fallon, 2021; Wilson, 1999). As the focus and scope of gentrification research has expanded, the relationship between race and gentrification continues to be substantially undefined. In response, various studies on school gentrification (Freidus, 2020; Green et al. 2023) have acknowledged the role of race and the oppression of low-income and middle-class racially minoritized families as part of this process. Expanding upon these efforts, this presentation calls for an educational research trajectory that rigorously conceptualizes the role of race in school gentrification and establishes school gentrification as a malleable, multifaceted, and contextually-dependent process.

This research is grounded in a critical race sociological perspective toward gentrification that views gentrification as a byproduct of living within a racist-capitalist state (Bonilla-Silva, 2004; Harvey, 2003) and Posey-Maddox et al.’s (2014) seminal definition of school gentrification as “an increase of middle-class families, material and physical upgrades, marginalization and exclusion of low-income families, and changes in school culture” (p. 454). Informed by these conceptualizations, we conducted a qualitative metasynthesis (Sandelowski & Barroso, 2006) of school gentrification research from 2014 to 2023. A total of 38 articles were selected based on search terms such as gentrification and education, residential displacement and education, and urban renewal and school reform. The articles were analyzed for conceptualizations of race and gentrification, and participant, location, and methodological focus.

Results revealed minimal conceptualizations for race, static orientations toward the changing nature of school and urban space, and a narrow focus on constituents and locales. For instance, studies often conflated race and class when using gentrifiers as proxies for white, middle, and upper-class families, and at times, would distinguish themselves as focusing on non-white gentrification. Additionally, much studies have been situated in hyper-gentrifying cities like New York and Washington, D.C. and mostly have focused on white, middle- and upper-class parents and new residents. As such, this presentation calls for an educational research trajectory that does the following: 1) conceptualizes school gentrification as a racialized process connected to local neighborhood dynamics; 2) leverages interdisciplinary frameworks on place and space attentive to the nuanced, expansive, and malleable nature of school gentrification; and 3) expands understandings and responses to school gentrification in smaller cities at nascent stages of gentrification and from longtime residents, especially youth.

This research responds to nascent calls to situate and understand school gentrification as a process tied to broader political, social, and economic forces and structures. Attending to the 2025 conference theme of “Research, Remedy, and Repair,” this research presents a trajectory for school gentrification research that advances rigorous theory building and robust analysis aimed to support the ongoing efforts of leaders, policy makers, and community organizations creating reforms to mitigate and address the educational, social, and material inequities of gentrification across schools and neighborhoods.

Authors

• Jasmine Alvarado, Brandeis University

• Alisha Butler, Wesleyan University